Why would Jesus want us to be persistent? Does he want us to nag God constantly? No! But he does want us to come to God with the important things, he does want us to come to God and cry out to him with the things that are unjust in this world. We need to seek God, we need to fall at his feet and want his input into every part of our lives.
What about being humble? When we pray if it becomes all about us and not about God then we have missed the point. Praying is not about us, it's about him, it's not about what we want, its about who God is. Praying is about us sharing our lives with the creator of the universe and so we should always enter his presence with humility and honour. Think about it, you wouldn't rush into the queens palace shake her by the hand and then put your feet up on her table and switch on the TV. We give honour to the queen and to those in power, so why would we not give honour to our God? I'm not saying that we shouldn't respect the queen, but if we gave God even half as much honour and humbleness as we do the queen, then we would be on the right track. God deserves our praise, God deserves our thanks, God deserves our honour, God deserves a people that humble themselves before him and lay face down in his presence. He alone is worthy, he alone deserves all we have to give.
The next thing that Jesus encourages us to do is believe like a little child. This always makes me smile. I work with children as a job, and love to see children in worship. They are so simple in their approach to God, they just accept his word and love him for who he is. This is so important for all of us who serve the Lord. Jesus says, 'Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.' We need to remember that we can debate, study and read the word of God and know it inside out, but if we do not accept it then we are walking on thin ice. We need to accept God and walk in his ways. A child accepts whatever the adult says to be true as they have no other point of reference. The same it should be for us, if God says it...it's done. If God says 'Go do!' then just do it! We need to be in complete obedience to him, and follow his lead and not the lead of man.
Jesus finishes this passage talking about sacrifice. He tells those with him that they must sacrifice everything for the things of God. This may sound harsh, but to completely follow him, we must be all in. We cannot have one foot in the kingdom and the other in the world. If we serve the riches of this world then they become idols. If we follow what others say and ignore what God says then we are not true followers of the King!
This passage leads us through our Christian lives in just 30 verses. We need to be persistent in the things of God, we need to be humble serving God and those in need, we need to believe and trust in him and we need to sacrifice the idols of our lives and follow him in spirit and truth.
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